Many of them have not yet returned because their houses were still submerged by flood water 30cm to 150cm deep such as in Kampung Pulo and Gg. Anwar behind Hermina Hospital.Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Thousand evacuees in Kampung Melayu returned home on Monday as the flood water in one of the worst-hit areas in the capital city had decreased.
"The number of remaining evacuees is now less than 2,700," Kampung Melayu Village Head Bambang Pangestu said at his office.
He said many of them have not yet returned because their houses were still submerged by flood water 30cm to 150cm deep such as in Kampung Pulo and Gg. Anwar behind Hermina Hospital.
Around 4,000 out of 6,000 evacuees have already returned home to start cleaning their houses.
"While the mud is still wet, we clean it. If it is already dry it would be hard to clean it," one of the returning evacuees in Kampung Pulo, Rudi, said.
He however said that his wife and children still remained at the evacuation centers as his house is still very dirty and has no power.
Suhaimah, an evacuee at the East Jakarta health service building, said she could not as yet return home because her house is still dirty although it has been cleaned since Sunday.
"We would not return yet because we have children who have to go to school. It is impossible for them to study at a dirty place. Meanwhile there is also still no running water at home and so we cannot take a bath there," she said.
Bambang said he predicted situation in the area would be normal in two weeks.
"The problems in Kampung Melayu are mud and garbage, It is very difficult to clean them because they are located between homes separated by narrow alleys and so access to them is difficult," he said.
He said a joint team of rescuers would help floods victims clean up their homes.
He meanwhile said that an inventory of houses damaged by the floods was still being made.
Several locations in the capital city are still under water especially Pluit in North Jakarta following heavy flooding sweeping the city in the past few days.
Electricity has been normal in many places after it was cut for several days due to inundation.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2013
